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Two Malaysian Indians charged with aircraft engine theft

Last updated: 06 January, 2010

Kuala Lumpur, Jan 6 (IANS)

Two ethnic Indians on Wednesday were charged in connection with the theft and disposal of two jet engines belonging to Royal Malaysia Air Force (RMAF).

The two F5 jet engines went missing in 2007. Sergeant N. Tharmendran of the RMAF was charged with theft and company director K. Rajandran Prasad with their disposal at the Sessions Court here, Star Online, website of The Star newspaper said.

Tharmendran, 42, claimed trial to a charge of abetting airman Mohamad Shukri Yusop in the theft of the two engines. Rajandran Prasad, 38, pleaded not guilty to a charge of helping to dispose of stolen property belonged to the RMAF. Attorney-General Abdul Gani Patail said in a statement Tuesday: "Investigations revealed that both F5 jet engines were removed from the godown in Kuala Lumpur as a result of a collaboration between an RMAF personnel with the rank of sergeant and a company director to dispose of both jet engines."

He said based on information from witnesses and documents obtained, he ordered the two to be charged, reported Bernama, the official news agency. The jets engines belonging to the 12th Squadron (Scorpion) based in Butterworth were stolen in 2007 from the RMAF godown in Kuala Lumpur. The RMAF discovered the jet engines missing May 22, 2008 and a police report was lodged Aug 4 the same year.

Also missing were maintenance and service records. Patail said the stolen engines had "left" Malaysia for Argentina but were off-loaded to another vessel bound for Uruguay. However, he did not reveal their current location as efforts were under way to recover the engines.